Dibs Choice
by Foxwing
Summary: Dib makes a decision that will change his life...ZADR Yay another Zim fic! The rating is just to be safe coz I'm not sure what's gonna happen yet. But nothing gory I swear! Please R&R! CHAPTER 4 NOW UP unfinished
1. A change for the better?

_Ok, a new story!!! I thought up this idea in bed the other night and thought it would be fun to write. I know I'm in the middle of writing 'Tak's Revenge' at the moment, but I wanted to write this before I forgot my idea for the plot. Oh yeah, and this may or may not become a slash fic, but if it does there won't be any major gore. Definitely gonna be angsty though! Sooooo, enough blab, enjoy!_

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**Dibs Choice**

Chapter 1

A change for the better?

Dib slammed the door shut, a slight trickle of crimson blood running down the white paint from his hand. He glared at his room, at the UFO and Bigfoot posters, the extraterrestrial magazines and the various photos of Zim that cluttered his room.

He was a failure. A complete waste.

He carefully wiped his tender face of blood and tears. It had been a typical day with a harsh ending. As always he had been called names, humiliated, and had various pranks pulled on him.

But what had really set Dib off was when a gang of boys from his school- who had a particularly nasty reputation for bullying kids and still being popular- had cornered him and beaten him up.

Dib tentatively checked his wounds. It had never been this bad. Sure it was always painful, but not like this. He felt a raging anger swell up inside of him.

"I've had enough!" he yelled, tears streaming down his face.

He ran up to his wall and viciously tore down every poster and picture, sparing none. Once they were all shredded he stuffed them into his bin and turned to all his magazines.

He was about to scrap them when his eyes fell upon a picture of Zim screaming as GIR spilt a chocolate bubblegum drink all over him.

"Zim." Dib growled dangerously. "It's all your fault!" He tore it up violently, crying more and more. When he first discovered Zim it had been the best thing that ever happened to him; it was his chance to finally prove to the world that he wasn't crazy after all. He never expected his life to get worse. Zim just humiliated him, day after day, and the bullying intensified.

All though now he was too angry with Zim to realise it, somehow his life had been better. Those days when he chased after Zim, foiling his plans to conquer Earth- it was like he finally had a purpose. That he had liked, but now the bad parts clouded this memory.

He continued destroying all he had once prized and loved, overcome with anger and grief. When he had finished he collapsed on his bed, staining the soft covers with blood.

"A fresh start." he panted, talking quietly to himself. "This time no aliens, no bigfoot, no Zim. I've made my choice."

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_So what do you think? Sorry it's really short, but I will get the next chapter up ASAP, please review!_


	2. Hurt Inside

_Thanks for all the reviews! Ok I will definitely try and make this chapter way longer. I don't own Invader Zim (obviously) so...... just read it!_

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Chapter 2

Hurt inside

It had only been a few days after Dib and given up his mission to prove Zim an alien and his luck seemed to be turning steadily for the better. The day after he had made his choice, was one he would never forget.

Zim had ranted on about some stupid plot to destroy the Earth in front of the class, expecting Dib to retaliate and humiliate himself. However, Dib had simply smirked at him and said, "You freak."

Zim had been at a loss. He never expected such a cocky reply from Dib. Zim felt himself blush as the entire class laughed at him. Dib had loved the response he had received, and people were laughing with him, not at him!

There had been many more events like this throughout the day. Zim had mostly avoided him since, but the other kids still seemed to be on his case.

One boy yelled, "Where are you goin _Dib?_ To find Bigfoot?" as he passed Dib in the corridor.

"No, Bigfoot doesn't exist, duh!" Dib had replied in a patronising tone. He hadn't even hung around to look at the boy's reaction, but he knew he had been shocked.

Dib was amazed at how easy it was. He pondered over this as he went to sit down at his usual table with Gaz.

"Hey Gaz." He greeted his sister, as he was about to sit down. She didn't look away from her gameslave, and didn't look like she was going to. 'Well some things don't change' he thought to himself.

"Hey Dib! Over here!" A voice called from across the lunch hall. Dib spun round, expecting to get someone's lunch thrown at his face at any second. But there was no discarded food, just a boy waving to him from the over side of the room.

"Come eat with us!" Dib couldn't believe what he was hearing, surely it was a trick!

He turned nervously to Gaz. "You don't mind if I..." He started, but she just grunted in annoyance and turned away from him. So Dib headed over to the table and sat himself down.

He recognised the boy as being the one who had insulted him in the corridor before, and the rest were various other popular people from his year group. He winced as he recognised the gang that had beaten him up- the ones who had caused him to be here at this moment.

"Heard what you said to Chris! Man Dib, you've changed!" Dib just smiled, afraid that he might say the wrong thing and blow it all.

Little did he know that Zim was watching this conversation closely, bursting with jealousy. 'How could he do that to me?' He thought in disbelief. 'He said he'd never give up, and now he's pretending that none of it ever happened!' He sat there with his untouched lunch, staring at Dib as he nervously tried to blend in with the other kids.

Dib suddenly turned to find Zim watching him intently. Zim jumped and turned away, blushing furiously. This confused Dib- wouldn't Zim normally be insulting him or at least scowling at him with his best death glare by now? But Dib didn't have time to ponder over it.

"Hey Dib! Watch this!" One of the bullies said. He aimed a ball of meat at the blushing Zim, and flung it across the hall. It landed with a splat on Zim's head, and started steaming.

The whole table- including Dib- laughed hysterically as Zim ran around the lunch hall screaming in pain as the meat burnt his tender skin.

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Zim walked warily down the bustling corridor, rubbing his sore head. The meat of doom had been a most unpleasant experience, as had the various other pranks that had been pulled on him throughout the day (without Dib to pick on, all the bullies made him the new target). But none of them had hurt Zim as much as seeing Dib laugh along with them.

He didn't even understand it. Dib had been laughing at him since he had come to Earth, and so what if he did? 'Why? Why does it matter to me? Why does it make me feel so......' He didn't know how it made him feel. Well sure he was hurt, but that wasn't all.

Zim's thoughts were interrupted as someone walked right into him.

"Hey, watch where you're going earthsti-"Zim stopped as he looked up into Dib's amber eyes.

"What Zim? Scared?" Dib scoffed, absolutely loving it. But Zim didn't make any comeback- he just turned and ran down the corridor.

"Man, what is wrong with Zim today?" Dib muttered to himself as he headed to his next lesson.

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Zim gasped for air. What was wrong with him? How could he just run away and let Dib get away with that!? He walked out into the now deserted corridor, still caressing his poor head. He stopped abruptly as his antennae twitched ever so slightly.

He looked around nervously, scanning the corridor for signs of life. Suddenly a gang of boys- the ones that had talked to Dib at lunch- appeared around the corner. He shivered with fear as they approached him.

"Hey _alien_!" they sniggered, surrounding him.

"Just leave me alone." Zim muttered, trying to sound confident, but feeling (and showing) the complete opposite. This just seemed to egg them on.

They pushed him to the floor, punching and kicking him in his precious squeedily spooge. He could feel his warm purple blood staining his proud invader uniform.

'When will this pain end?' He thought despairingly to himself. Now he was hurt physically as well.

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_This went a bit dogdey coz would you believe it, there was a 2 second powercut when I was writing this, so I lost a bit of it. But never mind, hope u enjoyed it! Please continue reading and review!!!_


	3. Fight

_I am sooooooooooooooo sorry for not updating this sooner! I have had so much coursework and stuff, in fact I should be doing it now! Anyway thanks for all the reviews! Enjoy!_

_P.S. I channelled a lot of hyperactivity into this so if it gets too dramatic or just weird that's the reason!_

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Chapter 3

Fight 

Zim weakly dragged himself inside his safe base. This time the humans had gone too far. How much pain and suffering would they force him to endure? And what was worse, Dib didn't even seem to notice the pain he was in.

Zim didn't know which was worse- that he was upset about Dib not caring or that it was actually happening. He just knew that for some strange reason it hurt him deeply that Dib now treated him just like everybody else did.

He sighed, his breathing coarse. He carefully picked himself up off the floor, and collapsed instead onto the sofa. It had been the third time they had beaten him up, and each time it had become worse. Zim wondered if Dib had ever experienced bullying like this before.

He knew that Dib was picked on, but he never thought that any human worm baby would be harmed by another pathetic earth smeet. He could never imagine Dib being beaten like this. Zim shuddered at the memory. Their hideous faces contorted by wicked grins, their disgusting and smelly limbs punching into him with ferocious force. But before he could dwell on the lingering nightmare any longer, his world disappeared into blackness.

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When Zim came to, he sat up and looked around. A wave of sadness swam over him as he recalled the day's events. He gingerly stood up and walked to the window, careful not to hurt his wounds. It was night, but Zim knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Sighing he headed over to the toilet, and ordered the computer to take him to the sick bay to heal his wounds.

Meanwhile…

Dib beamed at his reflection in the mirror. He couldn't sleep, not with all the events of the day still fresh in his mind. How the other kids had treated him as one of them! And not a single person had beaten him up! Still, something didn't feel right. Something was missing. But Dib just pushed this thought aside. Nothing else mattered now. He had moved on from UFOs, Bigfoot and…Zim.

'Zim. He looked at me so oddly today. I thought he would be happy I was out of his way at long last.' Dib thought, perplexed. 'Oh well, whatever was wrong with him is his problem now. For the first time ever I'm actually looking forward to school tomorrow!' Beaming he jumped onto his bed and drifted to sleep, a grin still on his face.

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Zim trudged hesitantly into school, caressing his wounds from yesterday. He was sure he would have more by the end of the day, and he had considered not going, but if they didn't beat him up today, then they would beat him up tomorrow. He watched Dib longingly ahead of him in the corridor, chatting with his new 'friends'.

Zim looked away reluctantly and tried to divert his attention. 'Let's see, what could I do to try and end the filthy human stink beasts that I couldn't do when Dib was always spying on me.' Zim thought to himself for a while, but suddenly snapped out of his trance when he realised his eyes had once again come to rest upon Dib.

"Grrrr, this is stupid! I-" Zim stopped his rant abruptly as an unfriendly looking gang of kids advanced towards him. "Oh no," he gulped, and braced for the impact.

"Heya green kid!" One shouted as he ran over. "What you doin?" he teased.

"Uhhh…" Zim glanced briefly in Dib's direction, only to see he had turned around, and was watching curiously.

"He asked you a question!" A girl yelled in his face as she shoved him forcefully into a locker. Dib watched apprehensively from a distance, wondering what to do as the rest of the gang closed in around Zim. His friends just laughed and jeered as they watched, but Dib's heart nearly broke as he caught Zim's pained eye from beyond the crowd. But then Dib remembered what it was like to be that person, terrified and all alone, and how many times he had had to cope with it. Zim had always laughed along when they had done it to him.

With that thought he smirked mockingly at him, and turned away.

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_Sorry that was a bit short but I'll try and update sooner. Please review!_


	4. Confrontation

_Thanks for all the great reviews! Once again I am overloaded with the dreaded GCSEs at the moment, so I'll try and update as soon as possible. Read and enjoy!_

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Chapter 4 

Confrontation 

Zim fiddled nervously as Ms Bitters droned on. He glanced over at Dib and searched for any emotion in his face, but all he could see was boredom. No matter how hard he tried, Zim just couldn't get the image of Dib's cold smirk out of his head. How could he just smile so mockingly when he was in so much pain?

Zim looked away. This wasn't the real Dib. Zim needed to bring back the old Dib before he was lost forever. When the bell finally rang for lunch Zim waited for the stampede of ravenous stink-children to subside, gathered up his courage and marched over to his enemy.

"Oh look who it is! It's the _alien_!" mocked a particularly ugly kid as he strode boldly over, followed closely by the rest of the gang. Zim groaned inwardly as they swarmed around Dib. He knew it would not be that easy.

"Hey, I told you I've given all that alien rubbish up." Dib said, vaguely offended by their remark.

"Whatever Dib. So what do you want green kid?" All of the gang were now glaring at him challengingly, as if daring him to speak. Zim remained silent, beginning to panic.

Dib smirked at him scornfully. "Well?"

Zim shuffled uneasily. He had to do this. "I…uh, I want to talk to you alone." He muttered under his breath, unable to look into Dib's hurtful eyes. Dib seemed mildly surprised by this.

"Anything you need to say to him you can say in front of us!" said one kid defensively.

"It's okay. I'll meet you guys later." He said dismissing them. Zim waited as they filed past him, each one glaring at him.

"Well Zim, we're alone." Dib said, his voice over-confidant.

"What's happened to you?" Zim said in a small voice.

"What?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what? You mean getting a life besides chasing after you all day?"

"But proving alien life was your dream. You think giving that up is getting a life?"

"You don't get it do you? All my life I've had to put up with being picked on and beaten up. Now you're experiencing what it's like to have a little you're begging for mercy!" Dib sneered.

"I'm trying to save you!" Zim fought back.

"Save _me? _From what?" Dib replied incredulously.

"From becoming someone you're not! I know this isn't the real you, it's not what you really want!"

"How would you know? Why do you think you know me so well? I've given you what you've always wanted. I'm not stopping you from invading anymore! Now just leave me alone!" Dib began to push past him, but Zim grabbed his arm.

"They're not you're real friends!" he shouted desperately. Dib turned around.

"Oh, and you are Zim? I wouldn't know, I never had any before!"

"Well I'm telling you now. But you know they're not." Zim knew instantly he had hit a tender spot, and Dib looked like he was going to explode.

"Oh my god Zim! Why do you care so much? Just because they're beating you up instead of me!"

"But it's worse than that!" Zim pleaded for him to understand, but Dib had had enough. In his rage he lashed out at Zim, striking him across the face and knocking him onto the floor.

Zim sat up, holding his hand to his cheek. Dib looked in horror from his outstretched hand to Zim's cheek, which was gradually turning a deep shade of purple. What had he done? Zim watering eyes showed nothing but fear as he stumbled to his feet and fled, leaving Dib alone with his arm still outstretched.

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Dib was still in a state of shock from what had happened at school. He hadn't seen Zim once since, which he was glad of, because he didn't know if he could stand to face him at the moment.

"Maybe Zim was right about me. I didn't want to hit him like that. No…I-I did. It was his fault, he shouldn't have wound me up like that!"

"Dib?" Dib looked up to see Gaz glaring at him from his bedroom doorway. "If you do not want to invoke my wrath then I suggest you shut up!" she yelled through gritted teeth, slamming the door. Dib sighed and lowered his voice.

"I refuse to feel any guilt for what I did. It _was_ his fault. It's time for him to see what I've been putting up with for years!"

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Zim prodded tenderly at his bruised cheek. Talking to Dib was supposed to fix everything. He was supposed to have realised how much pain Zim was in. But it had just made things worse. How could Dib be so insensitive? With Dib truly lost Zim had nothing left to live for. His mission did not matter anymore either. The tallest had blocked him from being able to contact them, and they never called him. After all this time Zim had finally realised the armada would never come.

"What is the point?" Zim sighed, casting his eyes over the smooth blade he held before him. "I've got nothing now." He shakily pulled the glove off his hand, revealing his tender green skin to the world. He carefully rested the cool blade upon his bare wrist, shivering from its touch. A tear escaped his eye as the image of Dib's cold smirk came to his mind.

Suddenly a frown swept across his face as he dug the sharp blade into his wrist…

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__Tbc…_

_Lol. Poor Dib is so confused! Don't be thinking the wrong thing, this story has at least a couple more chapters to come yet. If I ever finish my coursework…_

_Please review!_


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